The case for corn-based ethanol keeps getting murkier.
The Obama Administration tried to stake out a middle ground last month when the EPA softened its threshold for acceptable biofuel. Instead of looking at the indirect impact of growing corn ethanol – i.e. the destruction of forests elsewhere in the world to prepare land for agriculture – the EPA approved the use of ethanol from modern, gas-fired refineries.
However, the evidence against this deliberate caving to the farm lobby keeps building.
This week, an analysis from Purdue University reinforced the EPA’s original stance: that corn-based ethanol is unlikely to reduce global greenhouse gases.
The university looked at ecological evidence and commodity trading data to reach its conclusion. It found that substituting ethanol for gasoline would double greenhouse gas emissions by changing land use in 18 regions of the world.
Chloregy released a second comprehensive analysis that points to ethanol’s failings. It noted that the price for corn rose 105 percent in the past five years aided by a 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on ethanol imported from Brazil, the other big biofuel making country. The tariff shields ethanol from competition, since Brazilian sugar-cane ethanol can be made for half the price of corn.
The high prices give added incentive to farmers around the world to clear land and plant corn. Adding to the ecological is that corn requires large amounts of nitrogen-base fertilizer. The consequence is an increase in the release of nitrous oxide, a more damaging greenhouse gas than CO2.
Presently, more than a third of the nation’s corn harvest goes to making ethanol. This should rise to 50 percent in five years, says the study, released on Thursday.
In a perfect world, this unsustainable trend should be enough to lead the Obama Administration to rethink its policy, the study argues. Unfortunately, the farm lobby won’t permit it. Instead of turning the focus to more ecologically sound second-generation cellulosic ethanol, the corn-based lobby will fight. Let’s hope market forces help turn the tables in the next few years as cellulosic refineries get up and running.
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